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Tag: "nasa" at biology news

NASA links nanobacteria to kidney stones and other diseases

Nanobacteria (NB), a novel self-replicating, mineralizing agent, has been identified by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists as a potential culprit in kidney stone formation among astronauts. With the potential for future exploratory space missions to the moon and Mars, longer missions, and exposure to the elements of outer space, health is a major concern for astronaut...

NASA study finds snow melt causes large ocean plant blooms

A NASA funded study has found a decline in winter and spring snow cover over Southwest Asia and the Himalayan mountain range is creating conditions for more widespread blooms of ocean plants in the Arabian Sea. . .. Lead author of...

NASA probe could reveal comet life, scientists claim

Cardiff (UK) scientists are playing a major role in a NASA mission, which they believe could reveal living matter in the icy layers beneath the surface of a comet. .. . UK astronomers involved in monitoring the comet before, during and after the impact and interpreting the results include Cardiff University's Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe and Dr Max...

NASA satellite data provides rapid analysis of Amazon deforestation

.. The Amazon, a vast tropical forest stretching across South America, is so large that if you were to take pictures of the region with optical photographs, it would take about ten years to get a composite image of the area. To make matters worse, its landscape is constantly evolving. So, scientists have learned to seek answers about this fragile ecosystem with the help of powerful eyes...

NASA's AURA satellite peers into Earth's ozone hole

NASA researchers, using data from the agency's AURA satellite, determined the seasonal ozone hole that developed over Antarctica this year is smaller than in previous years. . .. This year's ozone hole measured 9.4 million square miles at its peak between September and mid-October, which was slightly larger than last year's peak. The size of the ozone hole in 1998, the largest ever re...

NASA study solves ocean plant mystery

A NASA-sponsored study shows that by using a new technique, scientists can determine what limits the growth of ocean algae, or phytoplankton, and how this affects Earth's climate. . .. The study focused on phytoplankton in the tropical Pacific Ocean. It is an area of the ocean that plays a particularly important role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide and the world's climate. Thi...

NASA technology helping injured US troops

Patented NASA technology that originally enhanced robotics and sounding rockets is now aiding U.S. soldiers returning from overseas duty with spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The revolutionary new physical therapy device named SAM, for the Secure Ambulation Mode, is based on technology originally developed and honed at NASA's Goddard...

NASA study: Alaskan fires affected Houston air quality in 2004

An innovative new NASA-funded study based on a combination of satellite data, computer models and weather balloon readings finds that smoke from Alaskan and Canadian forest fires as much as doubled ground-level ozone thousands of miles away in Houston during a two-day period in July 2004. The study, which will appear online Sept. 26 in the Journal of Geophysical Research, offers scientists a rare...

Flu shot effective against drifted influenza, nasal spray vaccine less so

During a year in which the circulating strains of influenza showed genetic differences from the strains in vaccines, the traditional killed-virus flu shot was found to be effective in preventing influenza in healthy adults. The live attenuated-virus nasal spray vaccine also prevented illnesses but was less effective. . .. Earlier studies had suggested that the nasal spray, sold by MedImmune as Fl...

NASA satellite data helps assess the health of Florida's coral reef

NASA satellite data was used to help monitor the health of Florida's coral reef as part of a field research effort completed this August and September. . .. At nearly 175 sites, scuba divers recorded the number a...

NASA snow data helps maintain nation's largest, oldest bison herd

Grainy photographs of America's Old West recall a time when large bison herds migrated across wide prairie lands, 30 million strong, with the changing seasons determining their path and destination. Now, NASA satellite data and computer modeling and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) information are helping track the remnants of this once mighty herd in Yellowstone National Park as they migrat...

Global 'sunscreen' has likely thinned, report NASA scientists

A new NASA study has found that an important counter-balance to the warming of our planet by greenhouse gases ?sunlight blocked by dust, pollution and other aerosol particles ?appears to have lost ground. . The thinning of Earth’s "sunscreen" of aerosols since the early 1990s could have given an extra push to the rise in global surface temperatures. The finding, published today in the journal Sci...

NASA predicts nongreen plants on other planets

NASA scientists believe they have found a way to predict the color of plants on planets in other solar systems. . .. "We can identify the strongest cand...

Fused nasal bones helped tyrannosaurids dismember prey

New evidence may help explain the brute strength of the tyrannosaurid, says a University of Alberta researcher whose finding demonstrates how a fused nasal bone helped turn the animal into a "zoological superweapon." . .. Snively and co-authors, number-crunching physicist Donald Henderson from the Roy...

NASA-funded robotic sub finds bottom of world's deepest sinkhole

. During a two-week NASA-funded exploration led by Bill Stone of Stone Aerospace, the Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) revealed that the geothermal sinkhole, or cenote, did not have a tunnel...